If there is one work that has been crucial to Barenboim’s conducting career, it has to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. From Bayreuth to Berlin through Milan and New-York, the Argentinian conductor has been working on piercing its secrets for more than 35 years, going as far as to author a book on the subject. In the pit of the newly renovated Staatsoper and at the head of the Staatskapelle Berlin, he once again makes magic happen. Dmitri Tcherniakov, no stranger to the work for having already staged it at the Mariinsky in 2005, delves into the psychological aspects of the drama and works to make the mythical lovers as relatable to as possible. He thus gives a new realistic depth to this opus, probably the most fascinating and odd among the wagnerian corpus. The Act III, which sees the tragic end of Tristan und Isolde’s doomed love affair, is striking by ist powerful simplicity, and the famous Liebestod, where Isolde bids farewell to her dead lover, reaches unparalleled levels of emotionality and intensity. Thanks to his demanding direction of the cast, but also to the precise light work by Gleb Filshtinsky, Tcherniakov once again manages to craft intense images which effectively resonate with the rapturous and voluptuous enchantments of the score. To complete this high-level artistic crew, the Staatsoper called upon some of the finest Wagner experts: Andreas Schager, already a superb Parsifal and a regular guest at the Bayreuth Festival, is Tristan, Anja Kampe is an unforgettable Isolde, and Ekaterina Gubanova thrills as Brangäne.
Andris Nelsons conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker
Conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker, Andris Nelsons presents a concert night which concentrates every conceivable passion: Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Trumpet Concerto “Nobody knows de trouble I see” performed with “technical perfection” (Kronenzeitung) by “the fantastic Håkan Hardenberger” (Salzburger Nachrichten) and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection”. “Nelsons proved to be delicate but hearty when interpreting Mahler.” (Wiener Zeitung). The conductor led the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to “enticingly beautiful sounds” (Die Presse). “High praise goes to the vocal soloists Ekaterina Gubanova, Lucy Crowe and the Bavarian Broadcasting choir.” (Salzburger Nachrichten) “Standing ovation”! (Kurier)
Norma
“If we weep from emotion on hearing it, it’s nothing to be ashamed of” Richard Wagner on Bellini’s most famous opera Norma, the most successful work by the last and greatest composer of bel canto. This new production of Norma, directed by Grammy Award-nominated opera, theatre and film director Kevin Newbury and starring Sondra Radvanovsky as a “powerful, elegant” Norma (New York Times) and Gregory Kunde as Pollione, is “something very special. The word ‘historic’ is used perhaps a little too often but tonight there really is no other adjective to describe the sensational performances offered to us by Sondra Radvanovsky and Gregory unde.” (operatraveller.com)
Radvanovsky’s performance as Norma has been the fixed point of Newbury’s staging as it has travelled from San Francisco where it opened in September 2014, to Barcelona, and on to Chicago and Toronto, and was enthusiastically received from the off: British Opera magazine described her as “fearless in scaling the heights of this bel canto challenge. Her range of colours, from smoky to crystalline, and her authority […] were wondrous and energizing, starting with a consummately phrased ‘Casta Diva’”.
Baden-Baden Opera Gala
“An extraordinary evening full of emotions!” that is how the press called “the concert event of the year”: Anja Harteros, Ekaterina Gubanova, Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel, four singers in a league of their own presented an extraordinary summit of classical music superstars. The star-studded cast took the audience on a long journey, exploring some of the most remarkable and popular operas and combining all the features of this supreme musical genre in a single concert: beauty, magical sound, tragedy, and overflowing passion.
Eugene Onegin
Director Andrea Breth has produced an intimate chamber play that mines the depths of veracity, precision and charisma of her singer-actors. The title role is a tour de force for any baritone, who must walk a tightrope between cynical, insufferable snob and sympathetic, broken-hearted lover. This is carried off superbly by Peter Mattei, who ‘has acquired a fabulous vocal profile and is a gifted actor blessed with debonair selfconfidence.’ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) But the true hero of the opera is Tatyana, a multi-layered, conflicted, driven, doubt-ridden heroine. As portrayed by the dazzling Russian soprano Anna Samuil, this Tatyana ‘is ready to start a revolution.’ (F.A.Z.)
Tugan Sokhiev conducts Das Lied von der Erde
Mahler composed his “Lied von der Erde” in a phase of loneliness, but still: the seven Chinese poems that he set into very personal symphonic songs also spread a message of consolation. The Münchner Philharmoniker, one of the world’s leading Mahler orchestras, Tugan Sokhiev, Ekaterina Gubanova and Andreas Schager deliver a gripping performance.
LSO: Gergiev conducts Brahms: German Requiem
Conductor Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra present Johannes Brahms’ greatest choral work, the German Requiem, featuring soprano Sally Matthews and baritone Christopher Maltman. PROGRAM Brahms: German Requiem